feudalism
Lords over serfs
Feudalism is the medieval European system in which peasants worked land owned by lords in exchange for protection, and lords in turn owed allegiance to higher nobles or kings.
The term now often describes any rigid hierarchy based on inherited status or unequal obligations: Corporate feudalism keeps workers dependent on their employers for healthcare.
Historians debate whether feudalism was ever a coherent system or just a later invention to describe varied medieval arrangements.
Landed aristocratic residence
- fiefGranted feudal estate
- estateProperty and grounds
- demesneLord's private estate
- acreageAmount of land owned
holdings · tenure · leasehold · freehold · seigneurial · lordship · investiture · patrimony
Rule by hereditary elite
- monarchyRule by crowned sovereign
- suzeraintyControl without full annexation
- overlordshipSupreme authority over others
- liegeFeudal superior or subject
peerage · thane · homage · fealty · gentry · patrician · vassal · allegiance
Fortified medieval residence
- fortressHeavily defended military structure
- keepRetain or fortified tower
- moatDefensive water ditch
- drawbridgeHinged castle entrance span
bastion · turret · dungeon · rampart · portcullis · battlement · bailey · barbican
Feudal bound labor
- peasantLow-status agricultural laborer
- villeinFeudal tenant farmer
- bondageInvoluntary subjugation to another
- thrallOne held captive
tenantry · servitude · bondman · tillage · laborer · obligation · tithe · yeomanry
Honored mounted soldier
- squireKnight's noble assistant
- chivalryKnightly code of honor
- joustingMounted knightly combat sport
- crusadesAggressive advocacy campaigns
tourney · chainmail · heraldry · cavalry · lance · armor · banneret · muster
Distributing power from center
- seigneurialOf a feudal lord
- hereditaryPassed through generations
- primogenitureEldest inherits all
- vassalageSubordination to a lord
obligations · reciprocity · hierarchy · fragmentation · localism
Prejudice by economic rank
- bourgeoisieCapitalist ownership class
- proletariatLaborers lacking capital ownership
- sharecroppingFarm rent in produce
- exploitationSelfish use of others
oppression · inequality · stratification · abolition · emancipation · reform
manor
Landed aristocratic residence
acreage · holdings · tenure · leasehold · freehold · seigneurial · lordship · investiture · patrimony · hereditary
aristocracy
Rule by hereditary elite
- monarchyRule by crowned sovereign
- suzeraintyControl without full annexation
- overlordshipSupreme authority over others
liege · peerage · thane · homage · fealty · gentry · patrician · vassal · allegiance · oath
castle
Fortified medieval residence
drawbridge · bastion · turret · dungeon · rampart · portcullis · battlement · bailey · barbican · donjon
serfdom
Feudal bound labor
- peasantLow-status agricultural laborer
- villeinFeudal tenant farmer
- bondageInvoluntary subjugation to another
thrall · tenantry · servitude · bondman · tillage · laborer · obligation · tithe · yeomanry · serf
knight
Honored mounted soldier
crusades · tourney · chainmail · heraldry · cavalry · lance · armor · banneret · muster · levy
decentralization
Distributing power from center
- seigneurialOf a feudal lord
- hereditaryPassed through generations
- primogenitureEldest inherits all
vassalage · obligations · reciprocity · hierarchy · fragmentation · localism
classism
Prejudice by economic rank
- bourgeoisieCapitalist ownership class
- proletariatLaborers lacking capital ownership
- sharecroppingFarm rent in produce
exploitation · oppression · inequality · stratification · abolition · emancipation · reform
- governmentsdemocracy, monarchy, autocracy, oligarchy, republic
- history termsempire, dynasty, colonialism, Renaissance, Enlightenment
- medievalknights, castles, cathedral, kings, queens
- Medieval Europekings, queens, knights, castles, castle
- Medieval HistoryBlack Death, crusades, crusade, knight, castles
- Middle AgesMiddle Ages, medieval period, castles, knights, Dark Ages
feudalismcapitalism
Private profit-based economy
democracy · egalitarianism · free market economy · industrial capitalism · modernity
feudalismfreedom
Absence of constraint
liberty · emancipation · self-determination · independence · autonomy